Returning to work
by JCB
Summary: COMPLETE! Follow on from my previous story It's a frakked up universe. What happens when Kara returns to flying?
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters; I'm only borrowing them for a while**

**This is a follow on from my story "It's a frakked up universe". You really need to have read that to understand all of this story, but if you haven't, in a nutshell Lee and Kara are married with a young baby. I started to wonder how that would change things when she went back to flying and this is what I came up with. Hope you like it.**

**Returning to work**

**Chapter 1**

The ramshackle fleet that made up the last remnants of human civilisation had been stationary for the last week. They hadn't seen their enemy in six months but everyone was getting jittery about their inability to move forward and put more distance between themselves and the Cylons. However, moving forward was an impossibility at the moment. It wasn't until they had gotten close to it that they had discovered that this system was traversed by a high energy magnetic storm field. They couldn't go back for fear of running in to the Cylons, but they had no safe passage forward either, and as yet they had not been able to penetrate the field or discover where it ended to enable them to go around it.

President Roslin had decided that it was time to discuss the situation with Admiral Adama directly. He had been rather evasive about it for several days so she decided that the best option was just to turn up on the Galactica and then he couldn't avoid seeing her. However, having done that, his staff were being amazingly difficult about letting her see him.

"I understand that he's off duty at the moment, colonel." She stared down the XO in CIC. "But I'm sure he won't mind seeing me. Don't bother escorting me; I know the way." She ignored colonel Tigh's protests and headed down the corridors towards the admiral's quarters.

Laura was about to knock at the hatch to the admiral's quarters when she heard a high pitched squealing coming from within followed by the admiral's deep voice making a distinct "weeeeeeeeee" sound. Wondering what on earth was going on she poked her head around the door. The fleet's supreme military commander was lying on his couch holding his six month-old grandson above him, obviously pretending the little boy was a plane.

"Weeeeeeeee" he said again as he pretended to fly him around in a circle. The little boy squealed and laughed in delight. He pulled the baby down to plant large raspberry kisses on his face. It was a revelation to see William Adama like this, but suddenly Laura realised that she was intruding on a personal moment and was loathed to disturb him. She thought she should just back out of the room quietly before he realised that she was there. Unfortunately, he looked up and saw her before she could. He sat up quickly, sitting Alex carefully on his lap.

"Madame President…."

"I'm so sorry to disturb you, Bill. Your staff did try to deter me, but I'm afraid I ignored them. I should have listened to them. I don't want to interrupt your free time."

"No it's fine. Grandpa is just doing a bit of babysitting duty today."

She sat down on the couch next to him. "I know and it's lovely to see. May I hold him?"

Bill passed the baby to her. Alex looked up at her with wide, bright blue eyes.

"Gracious, I think he looks more like Lee every time I see him."

"Yes, but he has his mother's smile." As if hearing his queue, Alex smiled his wide, toothless smile at Laura and suddenly a look of pure Kara shone out of his face. Laura gave him a big smile in return.

"Oh lords, you're going to be a heart breaker, aren't you sweetheart?"

"Going to be!" the admiral laughed, "Half of my crew are already in love with him. I have trouble getting a look in when it comes to the babysitting roster!"

As if determined to show that this wasn't the case Alex reached his arms out towards his grandfather. Adama took him back and settled him safely against the crook of his arm.

"I suppose you want to talk about our current situation."

"Yes, I would like an update on what you've got planned."

"Not much I'm afraid. We've had raptor patrols investigate this thing every which way. As soon as they get near it all their instrumentation goes haywire. They've not found any gaps, breaks or an end to it."

"Can't we just jump to the other side?"

"We could if we knew where the other side was! This thing could be 100 feet or 100 miles deep; we just don't know."

"So our only option is to go backwards and find another system we can jump to?"

"There is another option, but I've been reluctant to take it before we had exhausted all the efforts with the raptors." She looked at him enquiringly so he went on. "It is possible that a mark II viper with its relatively unsophisticated computer systems would be able to fly in the storm field, but it's very risky. We could easily loose both ship and pilot and be no further forward to finding a way through it. However, I'm coming to the conclusion that it's worth the risk. You know that I've been reluctant to settle anywhere that doesn't have some sort of natural defences? Well if we can get to the other side of this thing and find a suitable planet, it might be just what we need." She nodded, recognising the logic of his thinking.

"I take it that it will require a very special pilot to be able to fly this mission?"

"Yes it will," he said simply, knowing that she understood. She looked from him to the baby, a sad smile crossing her face as she reached out to caress his soft blond hair. Sighing, she stood up to take her leave.

"Well please keep me informed of what you intend to do. I think I can keep the press at bay for another couple of days, but after that they're going to be demanding some sort of action and are likely to cause trouble if they don't get it."

−

Two dark heads poured over the very rough schematics of the magnetic storm laid out on the table in the Galactica's briefing room. The casual observer wouldn't generally put them down as father and son, but right now, so close together, their expressions serious, they looked uncannily similar. They were alone in the dim light of the briefing room. The admiral had made sure that it was just the two of them. He knew that this was going to be a difficult conversation with his son and he didn't really want witnesses. Fortunately Saul hadn't needed too many hints and had left them to it.

"Do you have someone in mind for the mission?"

"I'll do it myself," Lee replied curtly. The admiral knew that this was a knee-jerk reaction on Lee's part.

"No son. I can't let you do that. The Galactica needs her CAG too badly to risk you for this. Besides, this type of thing isn't really your forte. You excel at leading the squadron in combat situations, but what this needs is someone who can fly blind, instinctually, without anything to guide them."

"Well we both know that I only have one pilot who fits that description. She's the only one who could do it and have the remotest chance of getting back alive, but as far as I'm concerned she's not an acceptable option."

"I suppose you could ask for volunteers."

"Yeah, and like she wouldn't be the first to volunteer! She's chomping at the bit for some way of proving that she's still got the chops after having Alex."

"You can't wrap her in cotton wool, Lee. Kara's just not that sort of person; she wouldn't stand for it."

"I know that dad, but I don't have to like it. Nor do I have to send her out on the first suicide mission that comes along."

"Son, I'm not going to lecture you about doing your job; you know what needs to be done. Don't think that I don't know how hard this will be for you. I can't think of the number of times I would have liked to order you to stay behind instead of sending you to lead some foolhardy charge against the Cylons, but I know you wouldn't have thanked me for it and neither will Kara. Sleep on it and let me know your decision tomorrow."

−

Lee knew that sleeping on it wasn't really going to be an option. The likelihood of him being able to sleep with the thought that he had to send his wife out on a potentially fatal mission the next day was very slim. Everything had been fine up until now. Kara had started to go back to flying over three months ago, starting out with a reduced shift pattern and building up over time. He had no problem with her flying CAP when they hadn't seen the Cylons in months, although he was careful not to have them flying together. Lords forbid that something did happen to one of them, but at least that way Alex would still have one parent. However, this mission was very different and he just wasn't sure he could handle it.

She accosted him as soon as he got back to their quarters.

"So come on, CAG, spill. Rumour has it that you've been closeted with the old man half the day planning an op."

Lee didn't answer immediately. He bent down and picked up his son, who was lying on a blanket on the floor surrounded by the makeshift toys their friends had made for him.

"I'm going to give Alex his bath and put him to bed; then we can talk about it." Kara stared at him. He had that closed off "don't argue with me" look on his face that she hadn't seen in a long while. Oh this was going to be good, she thought as he disappeared into the bathroom.

Kara bided her time, but once the baby was bathed, fed and sound asleep in his cot, she tackled him again. Lee knew he couldn't avoid the discussion any longer and outlined the mission.

"Dad wants someone to fly a viper into the storm, assess it, see how deep it is and check out what's on the other side."

"Sounds pretty simple," she said. Lee just laughed harshly.

"Yeah right, with no navigation, flying pretty much blind. We don't know anything about this thing; it could go on forever, it could frak with the engines as well as the electrical systems and for all we know the frakking Cylons could be lying in wait on the other side. If it is possible to make it to the other side there is no way of knowing whether it will be possible to get back again!"

"So when are you going to ask me to do it?"

"I wasn't planning on asking you at all. I was hoping you would see reason and suggest to me who else might be able to do it."

"You know there isn't anyone else that can do it besides me and you. They're all coming on but they haven't had nearly enough flying hours in a viper to do something like this and I'm sure that your dad has already told you that you can't do it. That leaves yours truly." He looked away from her, not wanting to accept what she was saying to him, but knowing that she was right. She decided to take a different tack with him.

"If this mission had come up before we were married and had Alex you wouldn't have even questioned who should do it, would you?"

"You know that I wouldn't, but things are different now."

"Why? My piloting skills haven't suddenly changed just because I've had a baby."

"No, but your responsibilities have. I wouldn't choose to send any of the married pilots on this type of mission; I'd choose someone with no attachments."

"If you had a choice. In this case you don't so you might as well stop arguing about it and just accept it."

"I'm not sure I can do that."

"You'll get through it, Lee, believe me. I had to stand by and watch you go through all kinds of missions when I couldn't fly. You almost got yourself killed while I was in labour for frak sake!"

"I know Kara, but you weren't the one who sent me on those missions. What if you don't make it back? What happens when Alex asks about how his mother died? How could I tell our son that it was me that sent you to your death, huh? I don't think I can live with that kind of responsibility." She reached up and touched his face.

"You live with it every day, Lee. I hate to remind you, but you send people out every day who don't come back."

"Yes, but they're not wives, they're not mothers. I don't have to face their loved ones and tell them that they're dead."

"It's just a matter of time before you do Lee. What would happen if Crashdown didn't come back tomorrow? Would you just ignore his wife? No, you'd be the one to take the responsibility of going and telling her."

"That's different."

"How is it different?"

"She's not the mother of my son. I'm not in love with her!" he shouted at her, his feelings for once completely exposed. She grabbed him and pulled him to her. His arms went around her in return and he held her tightly.

"Don't let's argue about this, Lee. I'm going on this mission and that's final. If it makes you feel better give me an order not to go and I'll go anyway; it's what I usually do, but let's not spend this night apart from each other."

"You're right and I'm not being entirely honest with you. It's not just telling Alex that I'm worried about. I know it's selfish of me to think this way, but I don't know how I'd live without you Kara."

"I know, I'd be the same if it were you," she acknowledged, "but let's think about this objectively. How many times have I done impossibly dangerous missions?"

"Loads," he admitted.

"And how many times have I not come back?"

"None, but there's always the first time, Kara and that's all you get; one frakking chance!"

"Leeee! When did your glass become so permanently half empty?"

"Since I've had so much to loose."

"Have some more faith in my abilities please!"

"I know, I know. I do. It's just I couldn't bear it if you didn't come back." He screwed his eyes shut and she could see that he was close to tears.

"Shhh, it's not going to happen," she tried to calm him, a gentle hand stroking his hair. "But just in case it does take me to bed right now so that I can at least go off to meet the Lords with a happy memory!" She said with a wicked grin.

Lee bent his head and captured her mouth in a deep, desperate kiss. She started to pull off his uniform jacket and before they knew it they had made it to their bed, their uniforms in a messy pile on the floor.

−

Early the next morning Kara quietly eased herself out of bed, careful not to disturb her sleeping husband, glad that she had finally exhausted him enough to get him to sleep. She padded over to the baby's cot. This contraption had been a present from Tyrol and their deck crew, which they had made from one of their wooden wagons. She had heard Alex gurgling away and was anxious to make sure that he didn't start crying and wake Lee. He lay on his back looking up at her, arms and legs flailing in excitement. She picked him up with a smile. She hardly had a chance to sit down before he was searching for her breast. Although she was starting to wean him, the lack of fresh food suitable for a baby made continuing to at least partly feed him herself the only viable option. The pap they sometimes served up in the mess hall may have resembled baby food, but she wouldn't feed it to her dog let alone her child! Besides, she enjoyed this quiet time with her son. The only sounds were the occasional creaks of the old ship, Alex' contented baby noises as he fed and Lee's gentle snoring. She looked down at her son and stroked his head. He was so heartbreakingly like Lee. Much as she wanted to go on this mission, she knew that it was going to be next to impossible to leave them both and step into her viper later on that day. She hated to admit it, but Lee was right; things had changed. She had only had herself to worry about before. Now she had this precious boy and her equally precious husband. However, she supposed her perspective was somewhat different to Lee's. Before she had been so screwed up that when she was in the thick of a fight with the Cylons or some other equally precarious situation, it would cross her mind that it didn't matter if she made it back from the mission or not. Now she had very good reasons to make it back to Galactica and she fully intended to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lee awoke with the familiar warmth of Kara's body pressed next to his. He looked down at the mop of blonde hair on his chest and smiled at the way she lay, mouth half open and snoring delicately. It was always funny to him that his father had been to so much trouble to get them a bed big enough for two, when Kara always seemed to sleep so close to him that a single rack would have done. He began to try and edge out of the bed, but his movements woke her. As she came awake she stretched like a cat against him. She looked up and big brown eyes met bright blue ones in an intense stare. As what needed to be done later in the day intruded into his mind, his thoughts must have shown on his face.

"Lee Adama, if you say so much as one word about me not coming back from this mission, I'm going to have to hurt you!"

"All right, I'll just say good hunting, Lieutenant." He looked suggestively at the way their naked bodies were wrapped together, "and if we're in the same position tomorrow morning I promise you can hurt me in any way you like."

"Now that's a challenge I can't resist!" She laughed, but he decided it was time for reality to break in to their morning.

"Time to be up and at 'em Lieutenant," he said as he pushed her out of bed and smacked her backside.

"Yes sir!" she saluted him, standing incongruously naked in the middle of their quarters, before making her way to the tiny bathroom.

They went about their usual morning routine with every appearance of normality. Kara's veneer of bravado only slipped the once, just as she finished dressing Alex. She held her son tightly to her, not wanting to let him go. Lee knew not to say anything and just put an arm around her shoulders.

−

The pre-flight briefing was conducted in the briefing room with all the Galactica's key officers and the president present.

"You know what needs to be done Starbuck? This mission is of supreme importance to the survival of the fleet, but I don't want any heroics. Just get us some information about the scale of this thing and what's on the other side. If you get in there and you can't see a way through it or it affects the plane too much just turn around and come out again." The admiral stared intently at her, his expression serious.

"Yes, sir. I understand, sir."

"How long do you think you'll need?"

"Well that rather depends on what I find, doesn't it sir? A viper's fuel supply last about 8 hours with full thrusters, but I can extend it out to 24 hours by running on normal engines. The oxygen supply lasts 48 hours and I can take a couple of extra bottles. "

"All right, Starbuck, we're going to wait at these co-ordinates for 48 hours. I don't want to stay here any longer than that. We've been free of the Cylons for so long that I can't risk them finding us. After that we're going to have to move and then jump to a different system."

"Understood, sir"

"Good luck, Lieutenant."

She shook hands with the admiral but gave him a look. He knew that she wanted to talk to him alone. There were handshakes all around; the president even hugged her. With an almost imperceptible flick of his head Adama indicated for her to follow him back to his quarters.

"Sir..," she started tentatively once they were in private. He just looked at her and she started again. "Dad, I fully intend to complete the mission, but if…..if I don't….you will look after them for me, won't you?"

"You know that I will Kara, but it's not like you to talk like this." He pulled her in to a hug.

"I know. Its frakking Lee making me all jittery. He seems convinced that I won't be coming back."

"Don't worry about Lee. I'll deal with him. You just concentrate on the mission and we'll see you in a few hours." He placed a kiss on her forehead and then let her go.

−

Kara was on her mettle as she did a full pre-flight inspection of her viper, accompanied by the chief. She wanted the viper to be in tip top condition, or as tip top as a thirty year old ship that was patched together with re-cycled parts could be.

"Has all that crap been cleaned out of the portside thruster exhaust port?"

"Yes sir, I saw to it myself."

"What about the gimbal?"

"That too, and the dodgy valve in the starboard engine, and the loose thruster pedal. I've seen to it all myself. She's as good as she's gonna get."

"Thanks chief." She smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You know that I trust you implicitly, but I have to ask."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Lieutenant." He went on, "we've also taken out all the non-essential electrics; there's no point in leaving them in to go wrong, and we've found a few old parts and gadgets amongst the museum stuff that might help. Nothing to help with navigation though; I can't come up with anything that might help you to see where you're going or guide you back. Even your basic compass will be screwed by the magnetic fields in the storm."

"What, we haven't got a piece of string that long?" She replied with a smirk. She had been thinking about how to deal with this problem too.

"Chief, do you remember the Picon nursery story about the children that find their way out of the haunted forest by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs? Well, what I need is some breadcrumbs!"

"I'll see what I can do Lieutenant," he said, obviously wanting to rise to the challenge she had set him.

−

Her check finished, she went back to her quarters to get into her flight gear. Lee was ostensibly working on some paperwork, but judging by the screwed up sheets of paper scattered about his desk he wasn't getting too much done. She went over and put her arms around his very stiff shoulders and hugged him. She forced his chair away from the desk and sat on his lap.

"I don't want you to come down to the deck. Let's just do our good bye thing here and be done with it."

"You heard what he said, didn't you Kara? No heroics."

"Yes I did. Look Lee, I've got too much of a good thing going on here to risk not getting back." She bent her head and kissed him deeply. "Just keep that bed warm for me CAG; I'm going to be back before you know it and I'll expect you to live up to your promise and let me treat you in any way that I want."

After a few minutes more in his embrace she pulled herself away and went to her son's cot. He had obviously just woken up from his nap and stretched his arms up to her. She picked him up and hugged him close, closing her eyes and drinking in his familiar baby smell. She kissed him and put him back down. He started to cry, the sound tearing at her heart strings but she knew that she had to get away or she would never go. With a last brief, fierce hug and a whispered 'I love you' for her husband, she ran out of the room.

−

By the time she reached the deck all trace of tears was gone and she was the true professional.

"Everything ready to go, chief?"

"Yes, lieutenant, and I think I've found your breadcrumbs," he said holding up some small, sparkling silver balls. "We use these in Galactica's water tanks. They're designed to float on the top of the water, so they should float in the zero gravity of the field. They're reflective so that we can see the water level through the observation hatch. They've got no electrical parts so they shouldn't be affected by the storm. I've only got half a dozen of them but I'll put them in the missile pods so that you can launch them whenever you want."

"Chief, you're brilliant!" He just gave her a half smile in return "Er…see you around then." She climbed into the viper and manoeuvred it to the launch tube.

In CIC, Lee stood next to his father, watching the screens as she blasted out of the ship.

"Galactica, Starbuck. Here goes nothing!" She punched the thrusters and the viper shot in to the storm field. Her signal immediately disappeared off the screens, but Lee had positioned a raptor to try and monitor her progress.

"Galactica, Crashdown. I have visual confirmation that she's inside, but we can't get anything on Dradis."

Having watched the departure, Lee walked out of CIC without saying a word. His father turned to the XO.

"Keep him busy" he ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As soon as she entered the storm field everything in Starbuck's ship went crazy. Every instrument panel started flashing and then they all went blank. It was only by sheer force of will that Kara managed to hang on to the throttle and keep the ship stable. The engines misfired and she thought that it might be a very short trip, but fortunately they didn't stall and after a couple more coughs they went back to normal.

"Galactica, do you read me?" There was just a sound of static in reply. "Stupid question, of course you don't. Well you're on your own now, Thrace."

Kara started to test out all her equipment. Although the engines were still running, the thrusters wouldn't fire. Just about everything else except life support seemed to be off line. She realised that she should be thankful that she could still breathe! She decided to drop one of the chief's "breadcrumbs" to mark where she had entered the field. This was easier said than done as the missile firing system didn't appear to be working. Eventually, on the third try, the missile tube opened but didn't fire, however, that was all she really needed. She tipped the ship forward so that the silvered ball just fell out of its tube. With her marker set, Kara started to concentrate on figuring out where she was going. She did a time check and set her speed; she'd need all this information to be able to make calculations about the depth of the field. Looking out of the cockpit all she saw was grey cloud. She had once been stuck on Sagitarra during their foggy season. This was just like that; cloying, claustrophobic and impossible to navigate through. Fortunately, one of the old fashioned pieces of equipment the chief had found allowed her to keep the ship set on a straight course, although it was no help in actually setting the direction; that was entirely up to her judgement or more accurately guess work, as she couldn't see anything. She hoped there wasn't anything too solid in the field because she could hardly see ten feet in front of her and would have little or no warning of any impending hazards.

After the first hour, staring at the continuous white fog rushing past her cockpit was making her feel nauseous. She knew that she had to get over this or the mission was doomed to failure. Pilots could die if they vomited in their helmets. Her one and only experience of getting very sick in a viper had shown her that she never wanted it to happen again. It had been years ago now and she couldn't help but smile at the recollection. She'd been out on a real bender with some friends; for what reason she couldn't recall, but she'd gotten hugely drunk and passed out in her quarters. Unfortunately for her, instead of the late shift the next day that she had been expecting, she had been made to fly an early patrol. She'd made it through the first hour before she had had to come back. She had really thought that she was going to die in that plane. Her CAG had seen through the "food poisoning" excuse instantly and she had been made to not only clean up after herself, but she'd been grounded and been put on maintenance duty for a week. Kara had sworn then that it would never happen again and she wasn't about to start now. She swallowed manfully and started to whistle a favourite tune to try and take her mind off of her turbulent stomach.

−

Kara had been flying continuously through the field for six hours and quite frankly she was bored. She had worked her way through her entire memory bank of songs, singing loudly and out of tune in her cockpit, but even that method of entertainment was palling. There seemed to be nothing in this phenomenon and it was obviously much bigger than they had anticipated. She was starting to wonder if she ought to start thinking about turning around and heading back to Galactica; this thing could just go on forever. She had dropped one of the chief's silver balls at hourly intervals for the first three hours, but as the journey progressed she was worried about running out of them and had lengthened the gap to two hours. She decided that eight hours was going to be her limit. She knew that if she turned around at that point she would have plenty of fuel and oxygen to get back to the ship, even if she got a bit lost on the way. She was just reaching this point when the grey mist seemed to start thinning out. Suddenly she got a glimpse of stars and knew that she had made it through.

She emerged into the space beyond the storm; straight into an asteroid field.

"Oh holy frak," she shouted as she tried to regain control of the ship as it emerged from the storm. Some of her systems were coming back on line and it was throwing everything out. She managed to dodge the first asteroid, but was clipped on the wing by a second. This sent the viper spinning out of control into another, larger rock. She managed to gain some control but not before the tail had smashed into the asteroid. A piece of rock hit the canopy of the cockpit. Fortunately it didn't break but she was left with a large crack obscuring her view. Alarms started going off in the cockpit and the plane lurched downwards. She fought with the joystick and managed to regain some semblance of control. She fought with the unbalanced ship to avoid the continuing stream of asteroids and other junk that seemed to be inexplicably drawn towards the storm field.

She made it out into relatively clear space and contemplated what to do next. Fortunately, one of Lee's fears hadn't come true: there were no signs of any Cylons, but then there wasn't much sign of anything else either. Doing a diagnostic check confirmed that she had lost her starboard engine for the time being. There was no way she could get back to Galactica without it. As she didn't have an EVA suit on, she needed to find somewhere with gravity to set down and make some repairs. The small moon ahead looked the most viable option. She grappled the disabled ship through the outer atmosphere and headed for the surface. It looked like she had managed to pick about the most inhospitable place in the universe. The viper was being buffeted by strong winds and the surface of the moon was obviously frozen, but having come this far she really had no choice but to land and make the best of it.

"Frak, frak, frak, frak! Just my luck again. Why can't I ever get stranded on some planet with a tropical climate? I always have to pick the spots where I get my butt frozen off."

She put the ship down on a piece of high ground hoping this was at least solid ground: if they needed water stocks then she had found another good frozen supply. At least she thought it was water; checking the instruments told her there was little or no oxygen in the atmosphere.

Kara checked her watch; eleven hours gone since she had entered the storm. She got ready to climb out of the viper to see if she could do anything to fix the damaged engine.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

If Lee noticed that the XO and his father seemed to have had a sudden desire to complete every outstanding mundane task on the ship, he didn't comment. His father suspected that he was just grateful to have plenty to keep him occupied. So far keeping him busy had involved a complete parts inventory, a full review of every ship's maintenance log and emergency fire drill practice for the deck crew and the pilots. By the time he eventually got back to his quarters that evening, Lee was so exhausted that he barely had enough energy to sort out Alex and get him put down to sleep, before he fell into bed himself. He slept straight away, with hardly a thought for the fact that the bed was half empty.

His exhaustion carried him through the night until he was awoken in the morning by his son's crying. Kara always seemed to be the one to get up to him at this time and for a moment Lee was disoriented, thinking that she would go, but then reality set in and he realised that the other side of the bed was cold as well as empty. He glanced at the clock: it was 5am and she had now been gone for 18 hours. He knew that if she had returned during the night they would have woken him. A hard knot of anxiety started to settle in his chest; she had been gone too long for this to be a routine mission. He knew that he had to push back his fear or he wouldn't be any good to any one, least of all his son. He heaved himself out of bed as Alex' crying became more insistent. As he reached the cot he picked his baby up and held him close, hoping that concentrating his mind on dealing with his son would drive the feeling of anxiety away.

−

He had a new list of tasks for this second day. The first one for that morning was conducting a review of his pilot's performance assessments, which the admiral had suddenly decided that he needed. They sat in his father's quarters and worked their way through all of his reviews. They were about half way through when Adama decided that he had to tackle the fact that Lee was glancing at the clock every few seconds.

"Watching the clock isn't going to bring her back any quicker Lee."

"I know, dad, but it's been 24 hours now. I can't believe she's not back if something isn't wrong."

"It could be anything, son. This phenomenon could be wider than we imagined and she's just resting up before she comes back. She could just be enjoying some time away from her worry guts of a husband." Lee had to smile ruefully at that. His father went on, "she knows that she's got 48 hours. You know how Kara likes to make an entrance at the last minute. I've never known her be on time for anything. Don't start giving up on her yet."

"I'm not giving up on her. It's just… before, when she was missing I spent every minute she was gone trying to do something towards finding her. When she went to Caprica I had you to worry about, but this….I just can't stand the fact that I can't do anything except wait." His father put a brief, comforting hand on his son's shoulder in silent accord. He could appreciate the feeling; he was just more used to dealing with it than Lee was. He knew that he was spending more time than was strictly necessary with his son, but keeping the CAG in an emotionally fit state for duty was the best thing that he could do for the fleet right now. If truth be known, he also needed this task of concentrating on Lee to keep him from worrying unduly about Kara. He had promised her that he would make sure Lee was alright and he was determined to keep that promise.

"Well, let's get on with these reviews, major." Lee knew that this signalled the fact that his father had been replaced by his CO, but he knew that Adama was doing it to try and keep Lee's mind off Kara and he was silently grateful. He pulled out Helo's file and got back to work. It wasn't too long before they had finished.

"Is that them all, major?"

"Yes, sir. All except Kara's….er, Lieutenant Thrace's sir. I obviously can't do her review."

"Of course not. That will be the XO's job. Let's just hope that the pair of them can get through it without resorting to violence!" Adama was quiet for a few moments then looked at Lee. "I'm rather surprised that her name didn't come up when we were discussing promotions."

"I thought about it, sir, but I was worried that it might be seen as some sort of nepotism, especially as her disciplinary record isn't exactly exemplary."

"Well neither is yours if you think about it. I didn't let that hold me back from giving you the rank that you deserved. Tell me, how many pilots has she trained?"

"More than I could ever have hoped for. Fourteen have gained their viper wings and another twenty have completed basic flight. Plus there's all the advanced training she's given to the more experienced pilots."

"Well that alone would qualify her for promotion. Her position as the fleet's flight instructor and your lead pilot deserves a Captaincy. I'll have the XO prepare the citation; that should stop any accusations of favouritism." One of Lee's rare wide smiles spread across his face.

"Oh Lords, can't you just picture her face when she sees his name at the top of the paper! Just promise me that I can be there when she reads it."

−

As the day wore on with no sign of Kara returning Lee got more and more concerned. He was on CAP in the afternoon and couldn't keep his eyes from frequently straying towards the storm field, as if expecting her to appear at any second. Until now his concern had been mixed with an overwhelming sense of his own impotence at not being able to do anything to help her in this situation, but now, as time wore on, a real fear that something had gone terribly wrong started to creep in.

Despite having worked just as hard during the second day, the second night she was away was much worse than the first. Lee couldn't sleep at all; half expecting the phone to go at any minute to tell him that she was back; half trying to come to terms with the fact that she might not be coming back. It was something that he had just about managed to avoid thinking about during the day, but on his own, in the dark of the night, it crept into his mind and took root. Whether he picked up on his father's anxiety or he missed his mother, Lee couldn't tell, but the baby wouldn't sleep either. His normally placid son had started to grizzle when he first put him in his cot, but that had soon turned into full blown cries. Lee had tried everything to calm him but nothing seemed to work. He had him in his arms, trying to rock him to sleep, but by now Alex had gotten himself well and truly worked up, his little face red and blotchy, as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Lee was at his wits end when his father appeared at the hatch.

"I thought you might be having a bit of trouble."

"You can say that again! Half the ship can probably hear him. I don't know what's wrong, dad. I've fed him, changed him, cuddled and rocked him; I've even tried to sing the silly little song Kara sings to him when she's trying to get him to sleep. Maybe he just wants his mother," finished Lee, forlornly, knowing that he certainly wanted her.

"I'm not a doctor, but I'd say he's got a touch of colic."

"How do you know?"

"Well, contrary to popular opinion, I did raise two children of my own!" Lee had the grace to blush at this comment. His father reached for the phone and got put through to sickbay.

"Yes major…..yes, a bit difficult to miss isn't it! …He seems a bit colicky…thanks."

The doc appeared momentarily and whatever he did seemed to calm Alex down and he eventually went off to sleep.

"Now, what about you major? It doesn't look like you've gotten a lot of sleep over the last few nights. Do you want me to give you something to help?"

"No, I'll be fine. I don't think I could face Kara if……..when she comes back, if she found out I was out cold while our son was sick." The two older men glanced at each other. At a slight nod from the admiral the doctor excused himself, knowing that Bill was in charge of the situation.

After the doc left, Adama just sat and stared at his son. Lee knew that he wouldn't leave him until he got something out of him and even he had reached the point where he just needed to open up to someone about his feelings.

"I can't help thinking that she's not coming back dad," he said quietly. "The worst thing is the not knowing. I mean she could be injured or stranded and I don't know. I keep picturing her stuck in that viper, needing help and we can't do anything to give it to her. She could be dead already and we won't ever know."

"Lee, I don't understand why you're being so pessimistic about this mission. I know it's dangerous, but then there is danger every time your viper leaves the ship."

"I know that dad, and I don't understand it either. Maybe it's just this is the first big op she's done in a very long while, but I had this bad feeling about it from the minute we started talking about it. The last time I had a bad feeling like that was at the Cylon outpost and then I almost got killed."

"I believe the key word in that sentence son, was almost."

"Yeah, I know. I just wish there was something I could do for her."

"You can; you can stop thinking like this and have more faith in her skills, and you can make sure that her son is kept happy and healthy."

"Well he is now." He looked up at his father, "thanks dad." The admiral hesitated for a moment; although their relationship had improved beyond measure, it was rare for him to actually touch his son. Now he felt that Lee needed more than just words and so he reached out and hugged him. He knew that it was the right thing to do when he felt himself being hugged tightly in return.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Kara fought her body's need for sleep and got out of the viper to assess what repairs were needed to get the starboard engine going again. It was only now that she really appreciated how long it had been since she had done such a long and arduous mission. Her body ached from sitting in the viper for so long and from physically hauling the ship through the asteroid field, but she just had to ignore all these aches and pains and get on with it; she didn't have time to waste right now.

The wind was whipping around the ship and she hated to think what the temperature might be. Even though it was designed to maintain her body temperature, the cold was seeping through her flight suit. Working with gloves and her helmet on was also making the task more difficult, but she couldn't take them off. After pulling various bits of charred metal out of the way she managed to identify the main problem with the engine. The impact with the asteroid had dislodged one of the firing sensors. The problem was that it had dislodged the sensor into a cavity that she couldn't seem to get it out of. She needed to remove it, repair it and then hopefully the engine would start so she could get off this frozen rock. She tried every which way to get the frakking thing out of the hole but with no luck. She contemplated taking her gloves off for a short moment to fit her hand more easily into the cavity, but she knew that was a sure way to loose her fingers to frostbite or worse. She was getting to the point where her exhaustion was such that she could hardly see straight, but she was determined to keep going until she got the sensor out; then she could get back in her cockpit to work on repairing it and would allow herself a little time to rest.

"Come out you little bastard," she said through gritted teeth as she tried again to get a hold on the part. This time her grip was better than she had managed so far. Not really caring how much she damaged it now, she yanked as hard as she could. The piece at last came away. Kara was so surprised that she fell backwards. Loosing her footing on the ice, she crashed to the ground, catching her helmet on the viper's wing.

−

When Kara came round she was disoriented to find herself lying on the cold ice; she had no idea how long she had been out, but it was long enough for a deep chill to creep through her body which meant that she must have been unconscious for some time. Her head hurt like hell and she could feel blood congealing down the side of her face. She must have cracked her head hard against the side of her helmet as she fell. Her suit was ripped, allowing the cold to get in. Fortunately she still had the sensor in her hand. She crawled to the side of the ship and used it to ease herself to her feet. She realised that getting up so quickly was a bad idea as she swayed and a wave of nausea washed over her. She steadied herself on the side of the viper, breathing deeply to stop her head spinning. Kara had seen and experienced enough injuries in her career to recognise concussion and she knew that she had to get back into the viper to allow herself some time to recover. However, it was no easy feat to climb back into a viper cockpit without a ladder from an unsteady surface. She heaved herself on to the wing of the ship with more effort than grace and then got herself into the cockpit. She managed to pull the canopy closed, but ice had already formed on the inside of the cockpit and this did nothing to help alleviate the chill that she already felt. An overwhelming exhaustion overcame her. She closed her eyes, thinking that a few minutes rest would help clear her head.

−

When Kara awoke she felt better for the rest, but glancing at her watch she realised that it hadn't been ten minutes but ten hours! She didn't have that kind of time to waste on sleeping, but what was done was done. She now needed to get a move on. She scraped away some of the ice from the inside of the cracked canopy; it didn't look like the weather outside had improved at all. She started to fiddle with the sensor. She had to stop herself watching the clock and concentrate on her repairs. Eventually it was done and now she had to climb back out of the cockpit to re-fit it and complete the repairs to the engine. This done, she again crawled back into the viper. She sorely wished that there was someone else here to test the engine so that she didn't have to keep climbing in and out of the viper in these dangerous conditions. The realisation that she was completely alone suddenly hit her. She knew that she was lucky not to be still lying unconscious or worse on the ice and this time there was absolutely no chance of rescue. With the realisation of her isolation came an overwhelming and gut-wrenching need for Lee and Alex. She wondered how they were getting on without her on Galactica. She hadn't really had time to miss them up until now, but right at this moment she wanted nothing more than to be lying in Lee's arms with Alex held between them. She felt an ache in her breasts, whether it was just a reaction to her need to see her little boy or from the fact that this was the longest she'd gone without feeding him since he had been born she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to get back to them as soon as she could and this need drove her on.

She held her breath, metaphorically crossed her fingers and pressed the starter button: nothing happened. She tried it again: nothing but a couple of coughs from the engines.

"Third time's the charm," she muttered to herself, hoping desperately that it was. This time the engines turned over a couple of times but then died. "OK baby, may be yours is fourth time lucky." She pressed the button with all the strength that she had. The engines coughed and spluttered but gradually came to life and stayed going.

"That's another one I owe you Lords. I know that I'm really running out of favours but can you help me get back as well? There are a couple of people that I'd really like to see again. Well, here goes nothing."

She lifted the viper away from the surface and tried to hold the ship steady in the vicious wind. Her natural instincts took over and she headed the ship out into space.

When she made it out of the atmosphere she knew that there was one more thing that she had to do: she needed to map safe co-ordinates for a jump. There was no way that, having been through all of this, she was going back to the Galactica without completing the mission that she had been sent out to do. She started up the viper's navigation computer, but it seemed to have been more affected by the storm field than the other systems and wouldn't work properly. Not wanting to rely on the faulty equipment, and to make sure that she got the co-ordinates, she was going to have to do it the hard way. She dug a pen and a tatty piece of paper out of her bag and tried to remember everything she'd learned about space dynamics; not a lot if she recalled correctly. Lee had coached her relentlessly to get her through the exam that she needed to pass to stay at the academy. She had scraped through by the skin of her teeth and then promptly never used any of the things she'd learned again. Gods she needed Lee at this moment; for the single reason that he had naturally passed with the highest possible mark and would be able to make the calculations without blinking. Whoever could have imagined that his nerdy anal tendencies would ever come in useful in a viper! She could almost hear his relentless voice lecturing her about the equations. She concentrated hard and tried to recall what he had said all those years ago. As his words came back to her she started to work her way through the calculation. It took longer than she intended but eventually she was happy that she had the co-ordinates calculated correctly and she carefully put the paper into a pocket in her flight suit.

She glanced at her watch: 40 hours gone. She was barely going to make it. She hoped that her father-in-law wasn't in too much of a hurry and would give her a little leeway on time. She tried to clear as much of the ice from the inside of the canopy as possible to give her a clear view and then turned the viper towards the storm field, prepared to navigate her way through the asteroid field and back into the storm.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Lee awoke the next morning with a renewed spirit. He had managed to get almost three hours sleep, which was three hours more than he thought he'd get, and it had assuaged his tiredness enough to give him a brighter outlook on the world that morning. His father was right; Kara was probably waiting until the very last minute to get back. He expected her to come shooting out of the storm field after 48 hours and five minutes, executing some impossibly dangerous rolling manoeuvre in the viper just because she could. If this did indeed turn out to be the case he was going to be so frakking annoyed with her that he fully intended to put her over his knee and spank her like a naughty school girl for what she had put him through!

He left Alex with Cally, who was off duty and had volunteered for babysitting duty that morning, and went to conduct the pre-flight briefing. His pilots were surprised to find their CAG so invigorated after the almost monosyllabic briefings he had subjected them to over the past few days. He swapped shifts with Kat to make sure that he was out on CAP when Kara's mission time would be up; he wanted to be the one to escort her back to the ship. As it came closer to the forty eight hour mark he made sure that they were patrolling the part of the fleet closest to the storm field. They hit that time and nothing happened. Lee waited five then ten minutes more before taking the CAP back around the fleet. Before he knew it 30 more minutes had gone by and almost as suddenly 49 hours were up and then 50 and still no sign of her.

Back in the CIC a short moment of silence had reigned when the claxon signalling the mission clock reaching zero had gone off. All his staff looked at the admiral; they had all been through this with him once already and didn't want to have to go through it again. No one knew how he was going to react this time.

−

Lee's patrol was coming to an end and the hopeful feeling of the morning had completely gone, to be replaced by a heaviness in his heart as the likelihood of his wife making it back safely diminished with each passing minute. He started his final approach into the Galactica, but just as he was about to enter the landing bay his viper jolted then dived as the port side engine cut out. With lightening reflexes and supreme strength he just managed to get the nose up far enough to avoid crashing into the bay and then took the ship out the other side.

"Galactica, this is Apollo. I've lost an engine. Coming round again to attempt another landing but it's not going to be pretty."

He managed to get the viper down in one piece, but the incident had done nothing to improve his mood. When the plane came to rest on the hanger deck he jumped out and climbed down the ladder quickly, viciously stripping off his gloves. If it had been Cally, his usual deck hand, she would have picked up on his mood immediately, but Socinus, who was her cover, wasn't so observant.

"Everything alright, sir?" he asked brightly.

"No it frakking well isn't. I lost the port side engine on my final approach. I'm lucky they're not scrapping my remains off the deck. Why the frak can't you people check everything properly before we go out?"

"I did sir, but blow me if it doesn't keep happening. They go off just like that. It's the exhaust valves, sir. We keep fixing 'em but you can't tell when they're going to go again," Socinus replied, a cheerful grin on his face.

Lee stared at the technician, an overwhelming anger boiling up in him. How dare this young idiot be so cheerful when his carelessness could have cost Lee his life. What if this is what had happened to Kara's viper. He took a step forward so that he was glaring directly down at Socinus, who had at last realised that the CAG seemed a bit pissed.

"You will check every single engine on every single viper until you are 100 per cent sure that every valve is fixed and you won't leave this deck until you have done so. Do I make myself clear?" Despite the fact that they were so close, he was shouting at the tech. Socinus had never seen the CAG like this.

"Yeeees, sir," he managed to get out, with a sketch of a salute. He stepped back, trying to get away from the waves of anger that were radiating off of Lee, but he tripped over some equipment and clattered to the floor. Lee kicked the equipment across the deck with a snarl of frustration. The chief, alerted by the rumpus, came over to see what was going on.

"Is there something wrong, major?"

"Your crewman seems to find it amusing that there's a known fault with the viper engines that you can't seem to fix properly. When were you intending to tell the pilots about it?"

"If you mean the exhaust valves, sir, we're working our way through them. I'm not letting any viper leave without the initial repair, but in some rare cases this hasn't worked and they've gone again."

"That doesn't make me feel more comfortable, chief." The chief looked at the CAG and knew what was going through his mind. He went on quietly so that no one else could hear.

"I triple-checked Starbuck's viper myself before she left, sir. I'm certain that there was nothing wrong with her engines."

Lee looked at him and for a moment the chief caught the utter despair behind Lee's eyes. Then Lee bent to grab the pile of tools Socinus had dropped at his feet. He hurled them at a box of parts and the whole thing collapsed in a mess on the floor. Lee stormed out of the hanger deck leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.

−

It was at this inopportune moment that the admiral chose to appear on the hanger deck. He had been coming to look for Lee, but what he found was a number of people trying to right a fallen parts housing and picking up scattered tools.

"What happened here chief?"

"The CAG got quite rightly annoyed with one of my young idiots," he said, glaring at Socinus. "Fortunately he only took his frustration out on a bag of tools, not Socinus' face."

"Still, that's hardly an excuse for such behaviour from an officer on your deck."

"May be sir, but I don't blame him." He went on quietly, "I can't imagine what he's going through right now. We're…we're all really worried for Starbuck. How much more time does she have, sir?"

"Not much, chief. That's what I was coming to talk to him about." His face was grim as he put a brief hand on the chief's shoulder and left the deck.

As he walked towards the CAG's office, Admiral Adama recalled the last time he had had to make the decision to leave Kara behind. It had been bad enough then, now it was agonising. She was his daughter in every way but biologically and she was the mother of his grandson, but he knew that if she were here she would be telling him to do what was best for the fleet. He knew this, but it didn't make the decision any easier. He thought of his wonderful grandson, having to grow up without knowing his mother. He also thought of Lee who had overcome all his inner demons to let himself open up to Kara and to love her; now that was going to be taken away.

He found Lee in his office. He had half been expecting to find him trashing the place after what had happened on the hanger deck. Instead the major was working diligently through the flight schedules. Seeing the deep frown on his son's face, Adama decided to let the hanger bay incident go.

"What are you doing, major?"

"I'm just re-adjusting tomorrow's schedules, sir. I think Starbuck might deserve a day off, don't you sir? The last thing she's going to want to do when she gets back is fly a patrol."

A slightly ironic grimace passed over Adama's face. Lee, who had been so pessimistic at the start of the mission, was now behaving in exactly the opposite manner when the chances of Kara still being alive were so slim. Adama knew that if Starbuck wasn't out of fuel by now then she would be out of oxygen; whichever, it added up to the same conclusion; his daughter-in-law wasn't coming back and he needed to help Lee accept this fact.

"Son, I think you can leave the schedules for the moment."

"No I need to get them done. I need to do something. If I don't I'll start to think about….and…and I just can't do that right now." He finished with a huge steadying breath.

"Lee, I've waited as long as I can, but even if she did put in a couple of extra bottles of oxygen in her survival kit as she said, they would be gone by now. We have to face the fact that she's not going to make it back this time."

"Dad, just let me take a couple of vipers into the storm to look for her. She could be really close and just needs some help getting back…..please."

"You know that I can't let you do that or we could easily loose you and the other ships as well. I know that this is beyond difficult but we have to move the fleet." Lee looked up at his father, his blue eyes unnaturally bright, and suddenly he looked very young.

"You said if it was me that we'd never leave. That's how I feel about Kara."

"I know, and I meant it: I'd never leave. I don't want to leave her either. But I can't make over 45,000 people stay as well. Right now I know you want to do something, anything, to get her back; I do too. You just want to stay here forever in the vain hope that she'll somehow appear, but you can't Lee. You have to face the pain of loosing her and get through it." Lee simply nodded, his jaw muscles quilted as he did his best to hold on to his emotions.

Adama turned to leave, but glancing back he saw his son's shoulders start to shake as the rigid control he had been maintaining on his feelings gave way. He didn't hesitate but pulled Lee into his arms. He couldn't remember the last time he had held his son while he cried; whenever it was, it was a hell of a long time ago and he would have only been a small boy. This time he didn't even think about saying that brave little warriors didn't cry because he knew that this one needed to. As he felt the body-wracking sobs tremble through Lee's body, he hoped it would be another long time before he had to do it again, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be the case. His own eyes stung with unshed tears as he felt Lee's utter misery.

−

The admiral put in a call to the president. He knew that she wouldn't force the issue this time, but she would still want the fleet to move on nonetheless.

"I think we have to move Madame President."

"Is there no hope, admiral?"

"I'm afraid not, Madame President. Even with our most optimistic calculations she ran out of oxygen almost an hour ago."

"Oh this is horrible, Bill, but I have to agree. It's in the best interest of the fleet." Laura recalled the last time she had asked this man and his son to leave Kara behind. She now had a much better understanding of what this type of decision cost them and her heart ached for them.

"How's Lee?" She asked.

"Falling apart," he said simply.

"And yourself?"

"I'll live," he replied tersely, then went on quietly. "Having to watch your child go through something like this is a pain that I wouldn't wish on anyone."

−

As the call to action rang throughout the ship and the great engines of the battlestar started to groan, Lee walked back to his quarters. Cally was standing by Alex' cot, tears streaming down her face. She gave him a hug, all considerations of rank forgotten at such a moment.

"Do you want me to stay with him?" She asked. Lee simply shook his head in reply and with a squeeze of comfort on his arm she left.

He lifted the sleeping baby out of his cot and then lay down on the bed, Alex resting on his chest. Lee kissed the top of his head and wrapped his arms around him. He knew that his son had no idea of the enormity of what was happening to him at this moment, the affect that it would have on his life. Lee just felt that he should be close to his son at the moment when he lost his mother, to make sure that he felt loved. He closed his eyes tightly and hoped the nightmare would go away as he felt the ship start to move.

−

The admiral stood like stone in CIC, his face a tight mask, as the fleet began to move away from the storm field. The whole ship's crew was subdued; as much of a pain in the ass as she might sometimes have been, Starbuck was a talisman for them, always surviving against the odds. In loosing her they had lost some of their hope of survival.

−

**Author's note:** Thanks for all the feedback on this one so far. How was that chapter for you? A bit overly melodramatic or just the right amount of angst? Let me know what you think. Next chapter coming soon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Kara realised that she was in trouble from the first moment of re-entering the storm field. When she had first left it, all those hours ago, she had been so busy trying to hold the ship together through the asteroids that she hadn't been able to take a position reading. Now she had no idea where she had originally come out of the field. Having dodged her way through the asteroids, she made a best guess and ploughed in. The familiar grey-white fog enveloped her. This time it was even more difficult to see, with her iced up and cracked canopy, but she was determined to get through it and make it back to the Galactica.

−

She was about six hours in and still no sign of any of her markers. An almost overwhelming panic started to well up inside of her, as for the first time she allowed herself to think that she might actually die here. For all she knew she could be flying around in circles; there was no way of telling. Both her fuel and her oxygen stocks were getting low. She took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together; it was time for serious decisions not pathetically morbid worrying. She decided to adjust her course in the hope that she might find her trail of silver balls.

−

More hours had gone by, but she was starting to loose the ability to keep track. The headache that had never quite gone away since she had hit her head had now notched up in intensity. The mind-numbing cold was also making her struggle to keep awake more difficult, yet she couldn't afford to waste fuel by turning on the heating system. She felt like shit. Her eyes were playing tricks with her, stars and lights dancing across her clouded vision. For a second she thought that the flash from the fog was just more of these tricks, but she couldn't be sure. She dragged against her lethargy and scraped a bigger, clearer view hole in the canopy. Sure enough, another flash of silver: she had found one of her markers. Her spirits immediately rose, but which one was it? She could be close to escaping or still seven hours away. If it was seven hours she'd never have enough fuel or oxygen. She slotted in her second emergency oxygen bottle, used the marker to set a straight course and started to pray.

She spotted the second marker an hour and twenty minutes later. Did that mean it was one of her two hourly points or had an hour one drifted? She hoped fervently that it was the latter and pushed on.

Now she had another problem; her fuel was getting really low. More serious decisions required when her brain didn't really want to work anymore. If she reduced her speed to save on fuel she may not have enough oxygen to last the journey. If she carried on at her current speed she could run out of fuel before she reached the other side. She decided to cut one of the engines, the port side one as she had more confidence that she would be able to get that one started again than the damaged starboard engine. This reduced her speed somewhat but significantly cut her fuel consumption. She reached down into her survival bag and pulled out her third and last bottle of emergency O2.

"Buy two get one free!" she murmured to herself. After her last experience of crash landing she had slipped another one into the bag at the last minute "just in case". She hadn't wanted to rely on finding another conveniently downed Cylon raider this time and now she was very grateful that she had put it in.

−

Kara was beyond tired now. The need to close her eyes and sleep was overwhelming. She could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness, but she had no energy or spirit left to fight the pain and fog in her mind any longer. She heard the second engine start to cough and splutter as the fuel gauge reached zero, but before it died completely she caught a glimpse of another marker and the appearance of stars as the storm field started to thin. She eased her foot off the throttle pedal to coax the last possible effort from the engine and slowly drifted into clear space.

And that was the sight that greeted her: clear space. No fleet, no Galactica. She had no fuel and barely any oxygen and no home. It may only have been a huge chunk of rusty old metal but the Galactica was her home because the people most important to her, her family, were all there, and it was gone. With the last ounce of her energy she flicked the switch for her comms: nothing. She flicked a couple of other switches with no response. Her ship was entirely dead, just floating in cold space. For the first time since this mission had begun almost two and a half days ago she let the tears flow down her cheeks as she criedand then thedarkness flowed through her brain and subsumed her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

Lee stood like a statue in front of his monitors in CIC, with every outward appearance of the calm, efficient CAG. However, no one had risked speaking to him unless absolutely necessary. His father wasn't sure if he was registering anything that was happening around him and was pretty sure that he was just doing his job on automatic pilot, but they needed to keep him doing it if he was going to get through this.

They had been travelling back through the system until they were able to calculate a jump. Lee tried to swallow the misery that threatened to engulf him with every passing mile. He tried to concentrate on the data in front of him, but Kara's face kept swimming into his mind. He suddenly realised that his father was speaking to him.

"Sorry sir, I missed the question."

"I asked about the status of the CAP, major."

"Ummm, five vipers just started a new patrol, sir."

The admiral just nodded in response. Lee suddenly really took in his father's appearance; he looked awful. He was usually so vigorous that one forgot his age and the fact that he should have been living in quiet retirement by now, but right now every year was showing on his haggard face. Lee felt suddenly guilty that he had been so immersed in his own grief that he hadn't spared a thought for what his father would be feeling at the moment. To all intents and purposes he had just lost a second child. The crew accepted that Lee would be grief stricken at the loss of Starbuck, but they all seemed to expect his father to go on stoically as if nothing had happened, that he hadn't experienced the same loss. Lee acknowledged to himself that he had been leaning heavily on his father over the last few days and it was about time that he returned some of that support. He moved closer to his dad and spoke quietly.

"Hey dad, how about Alex and I come to your quarters for dinner?" He managed to give his father a sad smile and was rewarded by a half smile in return. Both of them knew that they wouldn't be able to eat much in the way of dinner, but the admiral appreciated his son's thought, realising that he was trying to show the old man that he knew what he was feeling beneath the calm exterior.

"I'd like that. I'm almost done here and you should have been off shift ages ago. Let me just hand over to Saul and then we'll go."

They were just turning to leave when the calm of CIC was interrupted by a bleeping sound coming from one of the consoles.

"Sir, I'm picking up some sort of signal." Dee's voice immediately caught everyone's attention, halting Lee and his father at the exit.

"What is it?" Asked the XO, a scowl of concern on his face. The tension in the room was palpable. Had they delayed too long and allowed the Cylons to find them?

"I'm not sure, it's really faint. It's coming from near our last location, sir. Wait……..it's a viper distress beacon, sir!" She shouted triumphantly.

Lee was on the phone before anyone else could react.

"This is the CAG. Launch a raptor for immediate search and rescue. Dee, please send them the co-ordinates."

Within a few minutes the raptor had left the ship and jumped away. To those waiting on the Galactica it seemed to be gone an age, but it was actually within a relatively short time that it reappeared with a viper in tow. Helo's voice came over the radio.

"Galactica, Helo. We've got her!" The admiral took the comms.

"Is she still alive? Have you been able to speak to her?"

"No, her comms appear to be frakked, sir. The viper is pretty banged up. We can't really see in the cockpit either. It appears to be all iced over. We just got the ship hooked up and back here as fast as we could."

The raptor brought the viper into the bay. Through the fog clouding her mind, Kara heard the canopy pull back and felt her helmet being lifted off. She didn't know whether she was on the Galactica or had been captured by the Cylons, but quite frankly, at this point she didn't care.

Looking down at her, the chief didn't like what he saw. She had a deep, bloody gash on her temple. Her lips were blue and she was barely conscious. The cockpit was freezing cold.

"Well Lieutenant, I see that you've messed up another one of my birds," he said quietly.

On hearing the chief's voice she knew that she was safe. With a supreme effort she opened her eyes briefly.

"Sorry…. chief……Can't… get out……either."

She felt strong arms lift her out of the cockpit. Despite the strength, they held her with a curious gentleness that she recognised instantly. She made another effort to open her eyes and looked up into Lee's stern, concerned face.

"Major Adama….sir…..mission…..accomplished." This caused him to smile slightly.

"Well done, Lieutenant," he said softly as he carefully descended the stairs, pulling her tightly against his chest. He laid her on the gurney that the medics had pulled up and then bent to kiss her, as if the warmth of his lips on hers could somehow restore some of the heat to her chilled body. He knew that his father and the XO were approaching, but right now he didn't care about any rules or regulations about public displays of affection, or the fact that everyone on the deck was watching; Kara had come back to him and that was all that mattered. He could tell that she was in a bad way, but now that she was back he had hope again.

"Sir, sir, I need to get the oxygen mask on her."

"Lee," Kara muttered before the medic could get to her.

"Shhh, Kara. Don't try and talk." She was trying to fiddle with one of the pockets of her flight suit. He undid it for her and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

"Jump," was all she could say. The medic finally got the mask on her and started to whisk the gurney away. Lee looked down at the paper and saw some calculations scribbled there. His father came up to him.

"How is she?" Lee just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. He handed his father the piece of paper.

"Well I'll be damned. Jump co-ordinates. Saul, get these to Gaeta and get him to start calculating the jump." He pushed Lee to follow the medical team. "Go on, son, go to her."

His father's words broke Lee's sudden inertia and spurred him into action. He ran after the gurney as the medics rushed Kara to sickbay. He had to stand by as they hooked her up to monitors and cut off her flight suit. He didn't like the look of the bruises on her body, and even less the blue tinge to her skin. Major Cottle was all efficiency.

"She's severely hypothermic. Signs of hypoxia. Get me the warming blankets and I want the crash cart in here now." As if hearing his words, alarms started to go off all around.

"She's crashing."

"No, please don't do this to me Kara, please," thought Lee as he watched the medics frantically working to save his wife. He thought that it would be beyond cruel of the Lords to take her away just when he thought that he had gotten her back. He watched as her body jumped in shock as the doc placed the defibrillator on her chest. Nothing happened. The doc repeated the procedure and then suddenly the monitors started to bleep out a rhythm; they had her back. Lee slumped against the wall and fought back tears of relief.

−

Lee Adama was back to watching someone he loved breath with the aid of machines. The doc had told him that this was just a temporary measure whilst they got Kara's temperature back to normal. You apparently couldn't rush this sort of thing, but Lee dearly wished that you could. Right now he wanted nothing but to look into Kara's eyes and know that she was going to be alright.

His father appeared at his side as the doc carefully checked the various monitors around the bed.

"It's a miracle she survived, dad. She should have been out of oxygen ages before we picked her up."

"Well it turns out that, after her last experience, she slipped an extra bottle in her survival pack. The chief told me that he found three empty bottles in the viper." Lee shook his head.

"But even that wouldn't have lasted."

"It's actually the cold that saved her," chimed in the doc. "All your systems slow down with hypothermia. Her body simply used less oxygen and that just about eked out her supply. Although I doubt that she would have lasted much longer; she was already showing signs of oxygen deprivation when we got to her."

"But she'll be OK, right?"

"As far as I can tell, yes she will."

−

When Kara came round she realised that she was back in the Galactica's sickbay.

"Welcome back Lieutenant. I'm thinking of putting a name plate up on this bed to reserve it for you," said major Cottle, dryly, as he looked at her chart. "I only had to stitch up your head this time. You were pretty hypothermic though, gave us a real scare, but now we've got your temperature back up and re-hydrated you everything is looking fine. You'll be whacked out for the next few days but there shouldn't be any permanent damage."

"Thanks doc." She was disappointed not to find Lee at her bedside. "Ummm, do you know where my husband is?"

"I kicked him out for a bit. He's been here since you were brought in. He was cluttering up the place, and quite frankly he was starting to smell!" Her laugh turned into a cough.

"Lords, doc, don't do that to me."

As if hearing his name mentioned Lee appeared, obviously newly showered, and he was carrying Alex.

"Hey, you're awake. I've got someone here who really wants to see you," he said as he laid her son in her arms. He sat down on her bed and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh I missed you little man." She kissed his soft cheek as tears started running down her own cheeks. "I missed you both so much."

"Hey, we don't want any of that," replied her husband, wiping her tears away with a gentle hand. He looked at her, a serious expression in his eyes.

"You were right, Kara; you've restored my faith. You always do make it back, by the skin of your teeth, but you make it back. Just don't ever make me go through something like that again; I thought that I'd lost you, that we'd lost you."

"I know, I thought the same. I've never felt so alone in my whole life. You were right too, Lee. Things are different now. It doesn't mean that I'm going to stop flying or taking on dangerous missions. I just have to pick them more carefully." She smiled up at him saucily, a touch of the old Starbuck insouciance creeping back.

"Now that we've got all that out of the way, give me a proper welcome back kiss," she demanded.

"Sir, yes, sir!" He grinned and bent to claim her mouth with his.

−

**Author's note**: I just couldn't leave her out there to die alone in space! A little epilogue vignette to go and then we're done.


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"You have got to be kidding me."

Lee was doing his best not to laugh at Kara's expression, but he couldn't help the big grin on his face.

"This is a wind up right?" She said waving the piece of paper in her hand at him.

"No, it's perfectly genuine."

"You mean you didn't write it and then just put his name on it?"

"Nope, he did it all by himself."

"But Lee, he's used my name and the words 'enormous contribution' in the same sentence!"

She started laughing as she read her promotion citation, penned by Colonel Tigh, further.

"…..diligent officer…..credit to the service…Was he drunk? Did Ellen find another store of ambrosia?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Well I'll be frakked." He took her in his arms.

"Yes you will be," he replied conversationally, "but not until after my dad has pinned that Captain's insignia on you. So get that beautiful ass of yours into your dress uniform and down to the hanger deck asap. Congratulations, Captain Thrace," he said, with a wicked grin, as he bent to kiss her. When they came up for air the grin was still there. "Of course this does mean that I'm going to expect even more of a contribution from you, even though it's been enormous already, and there are certain tasks that I think will require extra diligence if you're to continue to be a credit to the service."

"Like keeping the CAG happy?"

"That will be your number one priority goal, Captain."

−

The crew were all gathered in the hanger bay for the promotion ceremony. Kara's, the most senior promotion, was the last to be given. She smartly saluted her father-in-law as the admiral pinned her new insignia on to her sash.

"I didn't think that I'd be doing this Kara," he said quietly to her.

"Why, because you thought that I would get myself killed first or because I've spent half of my career in the brig?"

"A bit of both." He smiled at her. "Anyway, you deserve it. I'm very proud of you."

−

Later, the party was getting into swing in the rec room. Kara was sitting with Alex on her lap, glad that he seemed to be the centre of attention instead of her. Lee came over and sat down next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders. She had only been back on her feet for about a week and he still didn't seem to want to let her out of his sight. She knew that it was going to irritate the hell out her soon, but at the moment she was rather enjoying his attentiveness.

"How did this happen?" she asked him, a puzzled look on her face. "I always used to be the one who was the drunkest and loudest at parties; the centre of attention. Now I'm deliberately sitting far away from the cigar smokers, drinking nothing but water and wondering when we can get out of here without appearing rude."

He put a hand to her forehead.

"Nope; no signs of fever so you can't be sickening for something. Maybe the almighty Starbuck might just be growing up at last."

"Yeah! When did that happen?"

"I'd say it started about the time that we knew this little one was going to be coming along, and when you said some pretty powerful words to me in front of a priest."

"So it's all your fault then?"

"Guilty as charged, ma'am!"

His lips descended on hers in a sweet kiss. There was some cheering and wolf whistles around the room.

"Keep that up CAG and she'll be grounded again."

Lee decided to give them a good show and deepened the kiss, especially as Kara didn't seem to be objecting. The crew responded with more wolf whistles.

"Hey, get a room already you two!"

He pulled back and stood up, taking the baby from his wife.

"We have one and if you don't mind we're going to retire there so that this little chap can be put to bed and I can give the captain some close, personal instruction on her new duties."

There was ribald laughter and cheering all around as they left the room arm in arm.

−

**Author's note**: there's some extra sugary fluff to round it all off. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
